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Is the Lebron and Kenny show coming soon to Hollywood?
Northport native Kenny Atkinson is a hot candidate to become an NBA head coach again, and reportedly has been granted permission to interview for the Lakers’ head coaching position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Lakers fired head coach Frank Vogel after an abysmal 2022 campaign, where the team missed the postseason. The Lakers finished the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference, just two years after winning an NBA Championship.
Atkinson, who is in his first season on Steve Kerr’s staff with the Warriors, has already interviewed with the Charlotte Hornets, Wojnarowski also reports.
Atkinson, who starred at Northport High School and then won two state basketball championships with St. Anthony’s, was the head coach for the Nets for nearly four seasons.
After compiling a 118-190 record, the Nets and Atkinson agreed to part ways amid the 2019-20 season.
Many players voiced their concerned with this move as Atkinson inherited the NBA’s worst team in 2016 and led a three-year rebuild that included a playoff berth in 2019.
Under his tutelage, the Nets would go on to acquire All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in 2019, but Durant wouldn’t play due to lingering injuries and Irving, who was also banged up, would go on to get season-ending shoulder surgery in February.
Top: Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson calls to his players during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics in Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
